Ban on gay marriage on state ballot

Lawmakers adjourn after Senate's gay-marriage debate

In the final hours of one of the longest state legislative sessions on record, state senators approved a measure sending a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the fall ballot.

The long-anticipated vote came just before adjournment and followed hours of angry, raucous debate in which the legislative rule book was used as a weapon to both stall the vote (Democrats) and cut short debate (Republicans). Senators on both sides of the aisle and of the issue lamented a meltdown in the higher chamber, as most of the day's work was scrapped so that the marriage amendment could be voted upon while key senators were present.

Senate President Tim Bee, a Tucson Republican, cast the decisive, 16th vote in favor of the referendum that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman - the only measure that lawmakers sent to the ballot after weighing several over the months. But Bee first chastised groups lobbying on the issue for threats and coercive tactics that served to divide the chamber and overshadow much of the session.

After the vote, conservative activists rejoiced that voters would get a chance to vote on the issue this fall. A similar measure, which also banned governments from offering benefits to employees' domestic partners, gay or straight, failed at the polls in 2006.

"This is a good day for the people of Arizona," said Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy. "The people of Arizona will be able to decide the definition of marriage rather than the courts or the politicians."

In the end, the marriage amendment was one of the few measures to survive Friday with the Legislature playing the role of executioner before adjourning after a marathon 166-day session. Going down in defeat were bills to create a state-run temporary guest-worker program and set standards for renewable energy use by government buildings and schools.

The House and Senate adjourned shortly after 10 p.m. Friday.

Lawmakers also refused to authorize Pima County to ask voters for tax hikes intended to fund baseball-stadium improvements and prevent any additional defections from Tucson's stable of Spring Training teams.

It was a legislative session that was otherwise dominated by the budget, as lawmakers sought to close shortfalls of $1.2 billion for fiscal 2008 and $2 billion for 2009. They completed the budget Thursday, after the Senate worked through the night Wednesday.

The marriage referendum was the most significant issue that remained after the budget - an issue that had dogged the Legislature for months, after several long delays and near-defeat.

Long fight over marriage

In the beginning it had seemed all-but certain that the issue would be on the fall ballot: the referendum was sponsored by enough lawmakers in both chambers to pass when it was introduced in February.

But it stalled in the House early on after opponents succeeded in amending it to give expanded rights to domestic partners. After passing the House as originally drafted in mid-May, it then stalled in the Senate for months as the budget became the focus of action.

Supporters pushed a vote on the measure, SCR 1042, on Wednesday in the Senate, but it went down in defeat, as a key supporter Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, was out of town. But they succeeded in a motion authorizing the measure to be reconsidered.

Johnson arranged to be back for the vote Friday and another absent conservative, Sen. Pamela Gorman, R-Anthem, flew back into town for the day's votes, giving supporters the 16 votes necessary to pass the referendum.

With that vote looming, Democratic opponents staged a filibuster, explaining and re-explaining votes on bills and amendments. An amendment to a vehicular bill that would bar license plate covers, dominated the sometimes-hostile debate for hours.

"To end this session today means we all walk out of here tainted, besmirched," Aboud said. "That's what will be remembered about this session."

Bee and other members decried the lack of decorum.

"I am extremely disappointed this has melted down to this level," Bee said.

After the vote, conservative activists cheered while gay rights activists blasted lawmakers for pushing a measure that would divide Arizonans.

Barbara McCullough-Jones, executive director of Equality Arizona, warned that anti-gay rhetoric from lawmakers could fuel anti-gay violence. She pledged that her group would work to defeat the election of lawmakers who supported the referendum, as well as the referendum itself.